Archbishop: young bankers must learn to pray

Justin Welby says brightest young bankers should join a 'quasi-monastic
community' to learn about ethics before entering the City

Justin Welby speaks during a discussion on ethics and finance at the 2014 IMF - World Bank Annual Meetings in WashingtonPhoto: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

By Anna Roberts

5:27PM BST 12 Oct 2014

The leader of the Church of England has spoken of his plan for Britain’s “ambitious” young bankers to give up work for a year and join a “quasi-monastic community” so they can learn about ethics ahead of entering the City.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has called on some of the UK’s brightest and most ambitious young bankers to quit work temporarily so they can pray and serve the poor.

He said he believed their natural ambition would encourage them to join his Godly community.

Although full details of the venture have not been released, he has said he will set aside a corner of Lambeth Palace for the initiative, aimed at 20 to 35-year-old bankers and young leaders, as he believes people will take him up on his offer and it will help Britain’s banking future and help prevent a future global recession.

He said he believes it will lead to a more stable, fairer industry and help establish bankers people can trust.

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The community would operate under the name Canterbury, St Anselm and his recruits would spend 12 months studying ethics and philosophy and would pray and serve the poor, before heading back to the cut-throat world of banking.

Mr Welby, 58, and married to Caroline, said he planned to outline his ambitious proposals at the International Monetary Fund, which is taking place in Washington, USA.

He was invited to sit on the IMF panel by Bank of England governor Mark Carney, and he said he immediately agreed.

He has always had an interest in business ethics, studying it as part of his theology degree at Durham University.

Ahead of the conference Mr Welby told the Financial Times if something did not change there would be further problems in the banking industry.

He told the best way to combat lack of trust was to teach younger bankers about God, ethics and the poor.

He said: “Failure to change the culture of leadership in the next five years, to a degree that is unimaginable today let alone in 2008, will lead to very serious consequences for the financial services industry in terms of over-heavy regulation and yet more decades of lack of trust.

“A year of really deep reflection on self, on motivation, on the nature of theological anthropology, commitment to the common good and what that means, and service with the poor, is absolutely life-shaping.”

Mr Welby said he believed young bankers would take part because they “tended to be very ambitious people”.

He added he hoped other industries would hear about his plans and follow suit, before praising Canadian banks which he said behaved well.

Mr Welby worked for 11 years in the oil industry including five years for the French oil company Elf Aquitaine based in Paris.